CN: reference to abuse of power, toxic work environments, and physical threats or sexual assault from authority figures. What would happen if you, an employee, walked into your boss’s office unannounced, interrupted their phone conversation, and gave them instructions on how they were to proceed with their work? What if you told your boss that their clothes are a violation of the dress code? What would happen if you told your boss that their work …Read More
Tag: crashcourse
What You Can Do to Close the Camps
I’ve compiled a list of actions to take in response to the recent news of the concentration camps for immigrants. If you’re here just for the list of resources and don’t need any background info, skip past the intro straight to the first heading, “First Step is to Pick Your Next Step”. CN: concentration camps, cruelty towards immigrants, cruelty towards children, government corruption, mention of Japanese-American internment camps, reference to the holocaust Note: Many articles …Read More
Spoon Theory: What Silverware Has to Do with Chronic Illness
CN: General discussion of the experience of having a chronic illness, reference to ableism and mental illness Have you ever dealt with a chronic illness and struggled to explain to your healthy friends why you just can’t go out with them anymore? Have you ever heard someone say, “I don’t have the spoons for that,” and wondered what they were talking about? Simply put, spoons are a unit of measurement for resources. When someone references …Read More
How to Lend a Hand in a Mental Health Crisis Part 5: Seeking Solutions
CN: mental health crisis’, mental health management; brief mention of a variety of mental health based issues and abuse. The fifth and final installment of Lucy Merriman’s guide to offering mental health support when you yourself are not a trained mental health worker, is possibly the most universally helpful of all the parts. It includes some extremely useful problem solving techniques, basic guidelines to finding the info you need to help you move forward, and …Read More
Financial Advice for People Who Hate Capitalism
Alternate title: How to use money wisely when you despise capitalism because your last meal was some dandelion greens you picked and some cold cuts you brought home from a wedding reception. I loved Elizabeth’s ability to discuss serious topics with biting humor and compassion in her previous guest post so much that she wrote me another! This one had me nodding along in agreement and saying YES THAT out loud through the whole piece. …Read More
How to Lend a Hand in a Mental Health Crisis Part 4: Educate, Normalize, & Comfort
This week’s guest post is Part 4 in a five-part series that looks at how to fill the gaps in our current mental health care system on an individual basis. Lucy Merriman has been guiding us through information about mental health crisis hotlines, basic skills needed to offer support to a person in crisis, and in-depth information about how to guide someone to the other side of whatever they are going through. These posts contain …Read More
How to Lend a Hand in a Mental Health Crisis Part 3: The Process of Processing
This week’s guest post is Part 3 in a five-part series that looks at how to fill the gaps in our current mental health care system on an individual basis. It includes a lot of really valuable information about how to help someone work through an emotionally upsetting time. Whether your friend is in a full-blown crisis, or they’re just having a bad day, these tools are excellent for anyone who wants to be a …Read More
How to Lend a Hand in a Mental Health Crisis Part 2: Mindset, Limit Setting, and Safety Assessment
This week’s guest post is Part 2 in a series that looks at the gaps in our current mental health care system and provides information on how to fill those gaps on an individual basis. Today’s post covers the preparation needed to skillfully offer support to a friend if you don’t have the resources to become a trained crisis worker but still want tools to help your friend when in a crisis. CN: discussion of …Read More
A Men’s Guide to the Me Too Movement
CN: sexual assault, sexual violence, rape culture, sexism, mention of sex acts, Me Too movement, trauma Warning: Many links in this piece lead to articles that include graphic descriptions of sexual assault, in depth discussions of rape culture, and videos of rape apologists. Some have content warnings, some do not. Click at your own risk. I’ve noticed some men seem a little lost as news of the Me Too movement pours in. Why are so …Read More
What Does It Mean When a Group Has Power?
CN: sexual assault, racism, chattel slavery, ableism, trans-antagonism, mention of suicide and murder rate statistics. When discussing oppressed and privileged groups, you’ll frequently hear me talk about who in the interaction has the most power. But why is identifying the power in an interaction so important and what do I mean when I say a group has power? For a person or a group to have power refers to the ability to make certain choices …Read More